Scattered power outages persist in Panhandle following snow storm

Scattered power outages continue to plague areas of the Panhandle that received several inches of wet, heavy snow overnight.

According to the outage map for Nebraska Public Power District, 208 customers in and near Melbeta were without power, along with another 189 east of Scottsbluff and north of Highway 26. Terry Rajewich with NPPD says wind and the heavy snow caused most of the problems, but electric service to those areas was restored by 10:30 a.m. , with only individual outages remaining.

Meanwhile, about 250 customers of High West Energy were without power in the Kimball area early Saturday morning. A check of the High West website around 10 a.m. showed just a handful of customers without power.

Electric customers in South Gering also experienced a loss or service right around sunrise Saturday morning. Mayor Tony Kaufman tells us a substation locked out and tripped several breakers, but electricity was restored by 10:30 a.m.